


the candles are lit

by halfwheeze



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Agender Natasha Romanov, Hanukkah, Hanukkah celebrations, Hanukkah from a Goy POV, Jewish Bucky Barnes, Jewish Character, Jewish Holidays, LGBTQ Jewish Character(s), M/M, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 04:03:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17800709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfwheeze/pseuds/halfwheeze
Summary: It's February, but Tony just found out that Bucky Barnes is Jewish, so Hanukkah is coming a bit late.It stills means just as much to Bucky, though.





	the candles are lit

**Author's Note:**

> *stumbles in two months late with a Hanukkah fic* 
> 
> Anyway, credits to Jammit_Sammy here on Ao3 for coining the term "Triple A" in concern to our Natasha Romanov. Y'all will see where that comes up. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Disclaimer: I am a goy. That is why this is written from Tony's point of view rather than Bucky's. If you are Jewish and there are any corrections to be made, please do let me know!

It’s February, but Tony is decorating for Hanukkah. 

Everything in the penthouse is decked out in blue and silver, the colors that Tony had seen on the internet as what seemed like the trendy colors for Hanukkah, but it wasn’t like he knew anything. He’s still doing research as the latkes begin to brown, switching between two screens to make sure he’s doing the recipes right while also needing to make sure that the decor is even remotely what is appropriate for the holiday. Not that it’s even Hanukkah anymore, but they had celebrated Christmas in the tower during the month of December and Tony still feels shitty, even if he didn’t know. Neither of the twins practice anymore, so there isn’t really a need to apologize to them, but. Bucky Barnes. 

Bucky Barnes is a lifelong Jew and apparently Tony was one of the only people in the tower who didn’t know, sat in a line of idiots next to Clint Barton, Sam Wilson, Rhodey, and Wanda Maximoff. Bucky and Pietro apparently spoke of being Jewish together, but no one else was privy to these conversations until long after the fact; Tony is freaking out because he just found out, for example. 

He’s become an ametuer expert on Jewish tradition (as much as any goy can - he’s just learned the term  _ goy  _ as well, and he thinks that it’s very interesting and also very helpful so that he doesn’t just say  _ non-Jew  _ and sound like an asshat) in the last twelve hours, completing locking the penthouse from any other entries. He and Bucky are friends, he thinks, spending hours together working on the arm and shooting the shit with Bucky making sure that he eats. The other man is adorable, with a smile like sunshine and maybe Tony has a bit of a crush and maybe that’s half the motivation for this freak out, but the other half. The other half is guilt and shame, and Tony wants to do this. He wants to make it right. 

He’s not exactly an ace in the kitchen. Well, he’s not an Ace anywhere, his mind reminds him in a joking tone that sounds awfully like Natasha, because no one loves a good aro-ace joke more than the Triple-A herself. Themself. Natasha uses both she/her pronouns and they/them, but Tony usually uses they/them for Nat because it’s correct more often, and Natasha never minds they/thems. Tony has learned a lot about gender and sexuality and religion ever since inviting a bunch of heroes into his house, and he’s not angry about it. In fact, he doesn’t know if he could be more pleased. He enjoys learning new things, even the softer sciences like the ones communicated by friends. 

But anyway. Latkes. 

He has sour cream and apple sauce in the fridge, prepared in little glass bowls to go with the latkes. That’s what the internet says goes with them, so Tony had picked them up. For desert, Tony had attempted to fry up some sufganiot, though he isn’t sure about the success level. They’re falling apart a little, but he tried. There’s brisket and a roasted chicken finishing up in the oven, as well as bagels warming. Bagels and lox are just a Jewish stereotypical food choice, not a Hanukkah tradition, but Tony likes them and they go with the theme, so he figured it wouldn’t be so bad. 

Again, for dessert, because Steve told him that the Barnes family was Romanian Jews, Tony also has Romanian dessert pierogi, which are also called colţunaşi, he thinks. Scanning over everything in a panic is probably not the best way to go about things, but it’s kinda what he does. He has sarmale, mici and Ciorba de Burta that he ordered from a Romanian restaurant in Queens that were just delivered ten or twenty minutes ago, which was sooner that Tony expected, but that’s probably because of the six hundred dollar tip that Tony attached to his order so that they would deliver to him at all. Bucky is allowed to enter the penthouse in two minutes, and Steve will be sending him up in five. Tony is inviting the rest of the Avengers, but he wants Bucky to see it first. 

He’s buzzing with anxiety as he’s setting the latkes on a paper towel lined plate, still buzzing as he sets the chicken and brisket both on hot pads, and even worse when he hears the elevator ding. His knuckles are knocking a pattern against his hips, an anxious tick he trained out of himself in college, when Bucky calls from the foyer of the penthouse. Tony sucks in a breath. 

“Tones?” Bucky calls, sounding curious and confused, likely because he hasn’t seen Tony since early yesterday and now he’s been called to the one place Tony has where Bucky doesn’t usually hang out. Bucky lingers in the workshop, traipses through the labs with confidence, even sits with Tony in medical when the genius inevitably fucks something up. Tony walks out of the kitchen and into the foyer, taking Bucky by the end. 

“I have something to show you,” he says as he drags Bucky back from whence Tony had come, watching the little indulgent grin that sparks on the soldier’s face. Tony feels himself blush but ignores it to drop Bucky’s hand, spreading his hands to show Bucky everything in the kitchen. Bucky looks between the latkes and Tony, looks at the spinach, feta and mushroom pie and then back at Tony, looks at the brisket and back at Tony. Tony waits patiently for a reaction, by which he means that he has a very small anxiety attack for every second that Bucky is silent, to the point of which he almost regrets doing this at all. 

“What is all this, doll?” he asks eventually, his voice sounding just this shade of brittle, just this shade of reverent. Tony takes his hand again, wanting to steady him even if it comes off as something less than platonic. 

“Happy Hanukkah, Snowflake. It’s, uh. I realised that we didn’t do Hanukkah stuff in December and I. Got creative?” he says, phrasing the last bit as a question because he doesn’t know how to not be awkward about this. Bucky turns to him and Tony thinks he’s going to be angry, that Tony has overstepped and this is the thing that will tip Tony out of the soldier’s favor, and he prepares himself for that. What he doesn’t prepare himself for is the hand that tilts his chin upward, the delicate way that his chin is cradled. The way that Bucky touches him as if he’s a thousand delicate things rather than just a man who went overboard. 

“Thank you, iubțel,” Bucky says, sounding reverent once more, and then he’s placing the softest of kisses on Tony’s mouth. He’s never been kissed like he’s everything, never been kissed like someone is so reluctant to break him. Tony clings onto Bucky, keeping their hands intertwined but using his free hand to tangle into Bucky’s still-long hair. They don’t stop kissing until a throat is cleared, and Captain America’s smiling face is standing with Clint and Bruce directly behind him, an exchange of money happening between Clint and Natasha right in front of their very eyes. 

“So. Dinner?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Prompt me @halfwheeze or in the comments!


End file.
